Derrick Rose says Timberwolves lacked urgency vs. Suns

“We didn’t come out with the urgency of a team that wanted to win the game,” Rose said, per ESPN. “I think that’s how this game is played. You can’t come out lackadaisical, you can’t come out nonchalant. You’ve got to come out and play as hard as you can, especially when you’ve lost three in a row, and it shows. Tonight we lost four.”

This was certainly a winnable game for Minnesota by all means, as Phoenix is arguably the worst team in the league. The Timberwolves needed a win badly as they had lost three in a row and four of their last six before Saturday night’s disappointing loss.

However, as Rose pointed out, they just didn’t play with urgency, and perhaps they took the young Suns too lightly. They easily could have taken this game to rattle off at least one win on this recently concluded four-game road trip.

The team appeared to have moved on from the Jimmy Butler saga that haunted them at the beginning of the season, as they won seven of nine games from Nov. 12-28. However, they have since lost five of their last seven outings and are now 2-12 on the road.

Despite Minnesota’s inconsistencies thus far, the same cannot be said about Derrick Rose, who is having a career renaissance this season. The former 2011 NBA MVP had another efficient outing, scoring 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Rose, in fact, is enjoying his most efficient season as a pro thus far, connecting on 50 percent of his field goals, all while scoring 18.7 points per game in 29.5 minutes off the bench.